Seven months ago…

The battle was over, the good guys had won, and Tony Stark was throwing a wicked victory party. All in all, Darcy considered it a good day. She adjusted the neckline of her dress as her eyes slid from one corner of the room to the other, watching the mating rituals of superheroes. It looked a lot like ordinary macking, except there was significantly more concealed weaponry. Her eyes paused on the lone figure on the balcony. It was Loki, God of Lies and Mischief and Other Bad Things. She had woken up that morning to the fact that he was the biggest threat to the lives of the people she cared about, yet here she was - less than 24 hours later - and he was a guest at the victory party. Granted, a not-altogether-welcome guest, but still – he was there. From what she had heard, the only reason any of them were still alive to have a party at all was because he was fickle and flipped sides – and then exploded the new bad guy all over innocent bystanders.

And the only reason he would give for the change of heart? Because he 'felt like it'.

As she wasn't a superhero and therefore wasn't around for the big fight, she only understood what happened in the abstract - the news cameras were shaky and no one who was actually there would stick around long enough to give her a detailed explanation. She knew that everyone had been fighting Loki and his army (where did they go anyway?), and then they were suddenly fighting someone (something?) with a plan that was more straightforward than Loki's – kill everyone. Thor got hurt, Loki got pissed, and the bad guy got dead. Brutally. As in pieces of him were probably still being washed out of the hair of random New Yorkers.

Now Thor was healing nicely and Loki was here at Tony's place. But she knew it wouldn't be that simple. Loki had done some crazy bad stuff – lives were ruined (some quite literally) because of him. They weren't just going to forgive and forget because he pulled a Darth Vader and switched sides at the last minute to save the day. She had a feeling tonight was a one-off. Tomorrow, they'd have to deal with the consequences of the past few months.

But as she stared at Loki's back, silhouetted against the stars, she couldn't help feeling a little sympathy for the devil. While it seemed like having a fucked up family was a necessity for joining the little superhero club, Loki's backstory was a bit more harsh than the norm. Not that she could condone his little reign of terror. But still. Putting aside the whole god thing, she was probably the only one here who really got where he was coming from. Well, sorta. She'd been sixteen and about to do blood-typing in science class. She had to ask her parents for their blood-type so she could see how she inherited her own. When she asked them, her mother just looked at her father and sighed. Then she explained that Darcy was adopted. It seriously came out of fucking nowhere. She didn't look adopted. She never remembered a pre-Lewis family Oliver Twist childhood. It didn't compute.

She remembered the fallout from that night – the sneaking out, the copious underage drinking, the ill-advised fooling around. Looking back on it now, she cringed at how painfully clichéd it all was. But still, rational or not, she remembered the rage. It was uncontrollable and it was aimed at her parents, at herself, at the world in general. And she remembered how betrayed she felt – by her parents, by her other parents, by herself for being so naive that she never even suspected. Her family just let her deal with it - constantly telling her they loved her, but otherwise letting her screw up her life however she wanted. Then, one night as she crawled back in her window smelling of cheap beer and tobacco, she found her mom waiting on her bed. She didn't yell or lecture, she simply handed her an old photo and said, "This was the best day of my life."

In the picture, her mom was holding a mini-Darcy - she'd guess she was about a year old. They were standing in front of their old house with two balloons – 'Welcome Home' and 'It's a Girl'. The look on her mom's face was so fucking happy. And Darcy just held that picture while she cried and cried until she thought she would choke to death on her own tears in a dramatic and awesome exit to the world.

In the morning, she actually spoke to her parents for the first time in weeks. And that was that. She was (still) really ticked off and hurt that they hadn't confided sooner, but she got that they loved her – really loved her. She could ignore the rest.

So looking at Loki now, she could kinda see where he'd been coming from. She remembered feeling so betrayed that they'd kept it from her for so long – almost sixteen years – but Loki had been in the dark for centuries. Multiplying her own anger by such a freaking massive amount of time and she could see why he might be angry enough to destroy worlds. Add to that the fact that he was an entirely different species. Double mind-fuck. And then today, when his brother almost died, he probably had his 'picture' moment where he realized love was stronger than blood.

Or she could be completely wrong. Maybe he tried to enslave Earth because it seemed like a good idea at the time, then he'd simply said 'fuck it' and became the good guy just to throw people off balance. That sounded like something a God of Mischief would do.

She looked down at the empty beer bottle in her hands and then back up at the lone figure on the balcony. Whatever his motives, he did kinda save the day. The hell with it; no one had ever accused her of being a coward. She headed toward the bar, smiling at Tony flirting shamelessly with an unamused Pepper, before grabbing two fresh beers. She took a quick look around and, deciding no one was watching, slid out the door onto the balcony.

He had to know she was there – hello, god powers - but he didn't acknowledge her presence. Well, okay then. Maybe he wanted some alone time? Whatever, she wasn't a genie, so he was getting company instead.

"Want one? It's the good stuff - imported." She held a bottle out to Loki.

His eyes slid over to her slowly and looked her up and down in a way that made her only slightly uncomfortable – it was more like he was sizing her up than checking her out. She wiggled the bottle in her outstretched hand.

"Don't tell me the God of Mischief is afraid of a hangover. Or are you a weepy drunk? Cause that shit would be funny." She tried on a smile to see how he would react.

He just kept staring at her, which was starting to get weird. And scary. This was probably a really bad idea. But, just as she was about to pull her hand back and make a quiet getaway, he reached out and took the bottle from her slowly. Giving her a slight nod to acknowledge his thanks, he brought the bottle to his lips and took a long sip. She couldn't help staring at his mouth and throat as he swallowed – whatever, she was a woman and he was pretty. So sue her.

Up close, he really had an interesting face. She had been expecting harsh lines and sharp angles - and yeah, his jaw was chiseled and his cheekbones were rocking - but on the whole, his face was surprisingly soft. Gentle. This was the dude who made all the badasses inside shake in their spandex? She guessed looks really could be deceiving.

"Not bad." His voice was smooth and soft and vaguely alluring – she could see why people would listen whenever he opened his mouth. "But not as good as Asgardian ale."

"You mean Thor's been holding out on us? What an ass-monkey!"

She was genuinely annoyed. She'd bought Thor a nice single-malt for a welcome-back-to-earth gift (and on her nonexistent salary, that was the equivalent of buying liquid gold) and he brought bupkis back for her from the motherplanet. Nice. She wondered if he brought anything back for Jane – except, you know, his penis.

She was startled by the quiet laugh next to her. She'd never heard Loki laugh before. She had assumed it would be cutting and kinda evil, like a horror movie villain – all bwahaha and shit. However, it was soft and melodious and weirdly…enthralling. Huh. She was definitely enthralled. Weird. She realized that she must have been staring at him with a somewhat gobsmacked expression because he raised his eyebrow at her in a questioning manner.

Feeling brave (hooray liquid courage!), she just smiled and answered honestly, "Sorry, it's just that you have a pretty laugh."

Well, he did. It wasn't like she was gonna lie to the God of Lies. Exercises in futility were not her thing. Anyway, she thought it might be kinda fun to throw him for once. She was right. His eyes widened slightly and he quickly looked down at the drink in his hand with vague suspicion. She had to laugh at that.

"Dude, do I look stupid enough to drug a god?"

He smirked, "Not quite. Which is exactly why they would send you."

"Not quite?"

He seemed to ignore her peeved tone and redirected the conversation by asking, "Why did you come out here?"

She wasn't sure how he would respond if she told him she had braved his wrath because she had her own daddy issues. Instead, she just replied, "You looked thirsty."

"Try again."

Right. God of Lies. Hmm, "I was curious."

"Closer, but not quite. You are not a skillful liar."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"It must be rather inconvenient considering your involvement in a secret organization."

Her smile was a bit self-deprecating, "That would imply that there are people I speak to who aren't already at this party."

"And yet most of them are not your friends. I wonder if you came to speak with me because you thought I looked as lonely out here as you felt in there."

That was a little too insightful for her comfort, "Are you psychoanalyzing me?"

"No. I am afraid I have too many of my own problems to care about yours."

That was certainly true. Dude had serious issues.

"Well, at least you seem to have made your peace with Thor. That's good."

His smile wasn't pleasant, "Thor. He forgives too easily."

"What about you? Do you forgive easily?"

He gave her a measuring look, "No. I do not forgive at all."

She huffed, "Pity. That would have been convenient a while ago. You know, before you sent that big robot thing to bitchsmack your brother?"

He leaned in towards her and it took everything she had not to flinch or step back. His voice was a whisper, "You should be more afraid of me, little girl. I could stop your heart from worlds away."

She could tell he was serious. She tried not to think that the next words she spoke could be her last – but hell, she wanted to die wittily if she couldn't go painlessly. "Well, now you're just bragging."

He invaded her personal space even more and gave her a naughty smirk. She wondered what would happen if someone looked outside right now. Were they flirting? No. Did it probably look like it? Yes. She wasn't even sure what they actually were doing. Something weird, obviously. Her heart was racing from a combination of fear and...something else. She felt like she might actually understand why people jumped out of planes or chased tornadoes – talking to Loki was very dangerous, but strangely fun. Enticingly fun.

"I have far more impressive talents to brag about than killing mortals without due fuss."

"Yeah? Can you juggle?"

He gave her an appraising look, "I do believe you are teasing me."

She just nodded, somewhat distracted. She'd just noticed that her beer was empty and she was talking to an only-possibly reformed supervillain. Alone. She needed another drink. But if she went back in, someone would notice and then there would be questions. Dilemma.

Suddenly, a pale hand with long, slender fingers held a weird mug thing in front of her face. Was it a tankard? Seriously? How very Norse God chic.

Loki just smirked and echoed her previous statement, "You looked thirsty."

She slowly took the mystery beverage, "Touché. And thanks."

She looked down at the liquid in the mug, giving it an experimental swirl. It looked normal. But taking a drink from the God of Mischief was about a 9.5 on the 'Really Fucking Stupid Things To Do' list.

Fuck it. She saluted Loki with her mug and took a big chug.

Oh.

Yum.

She turned to Loki to find him staring at her intently, gauging her reaction. "Like that, did you?"

She nodded like a bobble-head doll, "What is this stuff?"

"Asgardian ale. I told you it was better."

Well, damn. She wanted to bathe in it. Talk about imported – this shit came from another planet. She wondered if he could just conjure stuff up whenever he wanted or if he'd somehow traveled to Asgard to fetch it in the few seconds she'd been distracted. Both seemed equally likely. And equally impressive.

Speaking of impressive, "No helmet tonight?"

He quirked a brow, "I thought I would attempt a more casual look."

And he was dressed pretty casually for a guy she'd never seen in anything other than leather or metal. Asgardian fashion seemed to channel Kiss via a Renaissance Faire. In comparison, his current clothing would have been boring if not for the odd monochromatic color scheme. Dude sure liked his green. And she couldn't help but notice that it did bring out his eyes. Should villains have pretty eyes? That seemed like cheating.

And should she have cut herself off two beers ago? Probably. Still, she missed the helmet. For some reason, she felt like he should be aware of that fact.

"Just FYI, I like the helmet. It's pretty badass. Way cooler than Thor's. He said his pinches, though. Does yours hurt? It looks even more painful."

He looked somewhat flattered that she liked his choice in headgear, "The discomfort is negligible. I suppose I am not as delicate as my brother. Thor and his feathers – both soft."

She smiled at the idea of a soft Thor, "Yeah. Yours makes more of a statement too. Kind of a 'Don't Fuck With Me' meets a 'Mess with a Bull, You Get the Horns' thing."

He raised an eyebrow, "You are an unusual mortal, but I find your candor strangely amusing."

Darcy couldn't help noticing that his diction was really amazing - which was a random observation - but true nonetheless. He emphasized every word, like actors in a Shakespearean play where they spoke in such a way that you could almost make sense of the nonsense just by their tone and the way they stressed certain words. She suddenly wanted to hear Loki recite the "To Be or Not to Be" speech. Maybe then she'd finally understand what the hell Hamlet was talking about.

"Although I guess you'd be Macbeth," she said aloud. She realized the non sequitur would probably throw him and so she followed that up with, "You know, as opposed to Hamlet. Regrets over cowardice. You strike me as a better to ask forgiveness than permission kind of guy."

He was looking at her oddly.

"Macbeth? You know, Shakespeare? The playwright?"

Still looking at her oddly. And quietly.

"No? Well, that's ok. I think I have a copy of 'Romeo and Juliet' somewhere in my apartment that I can loan you. It's kinda depressing – ok, no, it's morbidly depressing – but I think it's his most popular play. Or you could just watch the movie version. The DiCaprio one is actually pretty good, in an intentionally anachronistic way."

Still nothing. Well, apparently he wasn't feeling very social all of a sudden. She wondered if she'd said something wrong. Maybe talking about regrets was a bad idea.

Just when she was about to apologize, he responded, "I prefer 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. I find Puck…relatable. And my brother, like Bottom, can be somewhat of an ass."

She had to laugh at that one.

"Are you saying Thor's a Bottom?" She couldn't contain an immature snicker and added, "Yeah, he was a total Neanderthal when he got here. It was funny. Hammer! Hammer! Jane found it endearing, but I'm pretty sure someone dropped her on her head as a child, so…," she trailed off. He just chuckled quietly, smiling at her in a way that made her feel like she might actually live through this whole encounter. And she felt like they might actually be building rapport. How weird was that? She felt vaguely triumphant about it.

"I still have not decided if you were very brave or very stupid to come out here alone." His face never lost the smile, but she caught the hint of a threat laced in his words. Maybe she was wrong about the rapport. There was still a chance that Tony would need to use a power washer to get the little pieces of her out from between the tiling - or worse. Loki was creative.

She answered, "Oh, I'm both. But I also carry a taser, so it's all good. Ask Thor. I laid his ass out the first time we met. Knocked him out - put him in the hospital. Well, ok, Jane had kinda run him over first, but the taser was the finishing touch! It's my signature weapon, you know."

He looked oddly delighted, "Are you telling me that you rendered my big brother unconscious?"

Yup, he was totally delighted.

She couldn't help the proud smile, "Sure did! Down for the count."

"Well done, Darcy Lewis. You are a formidable woman."

She didn't react to him knowing her name even though they hadn't been formally introduced. He was uber-smart. He probably had a dossier memorized for everyone at the party. Hell, she wouldn't be surprised if he knew where she got her take-out from.

Although, speaking of take-out - and considering his status as supergenius – she figured it couldn't hurt to ask, "You wouldn't happen to know where I can get decent Thai food that delivers to my place, would you?"

This time, he rolled with her randomness and answered immediately, "Siam Basil on 11th and Cooper has a very decent Massaman Curry. You reside within their delivery zone."

Sweet! He was like Ask Jeeves except she kinda wanted to do him. You know, if he weren't a scary alien-god. Maybe she should be freaked out that he knew where she lived? Eh.

"Thanks! I've been striking out lately. And Massaman Curry is my fav."

He nodded as if he knew that. Well, sure he probably did. Again, she wasn't going to underestimate the brain on this dude. He was always ten steps ahead, waiting for everyone else to catch up.

She mused aloud, "I bet you're awesome at chess."

He smiled again, a strange light in his eyes, as if he completely understood her weird jumps in logic.

"I must admit I am a rather formidable player. However, it has been a while since I have had the chance to play. No one in Asgard has been able to provide me with a challenge in quite some time."

Yeah, she could see how that would be. She couldn't really see Thor playing chess. For some reason, she was reminded of the beginning of '2001: A Space Odyssey' where the monkeys learn to use tools. Poor Thor. So pretty, so dumb. Ok, he wasn't really dumb, but he was…uncomplicated. If Thor was happy, he laughed – sad, he pouted – angry, he broke something – confused, he asked questions. And he asked a lot of questions. Still, chess was a mental game of subtlety and strategy. Thor was more of an action man. Dodgeball – that was more Thor's game.

Darcy nodded at Loki, "Yeah. It must suck being the smartest person in the realm. You know Tony might be a decent opponent, he's super smart but unpredictable. Two rare qualities in one inebriated, man-whoring package."

Loki seemed to consider her suggestion before nodding. "Perhaps one day he would accept my challenge."

Oh yeah, she'd kinda forgotten Loki was still persona non grata around here. Ah well.

She added, "Well, I play a mean Texas Hold'em. And beer pong. I am the undisputed master at beer pong."

He smiled again – she was on a freaking roll – and arched his brow, "I am afraid that I will have to take your word on that. I have seen the game played at one of your dens of inebriation and I do not think I have the correct temperament for such sport."

"What the hell are you talking about? You'd rock at beer pong! I bet you could confuse everyone with your big words and then smoke them with your awesome eye-hand coordination. I saw you throw that knife on TV. It was epic. I bet you'd give Clint a run for his money. Not to mention the evil sorcerer powers. Well, morally-ambiguous sorcerer powers. And the whole godly constitution thing. You're probably a real tank."

She could see him puzzle over her words before he nodded, "Or I could turn my opponents' beverages into something decidedly more unpleasant than beer."

There was the smile she expected from a God of Mischief.

"Yeah! That would be awesome. You totally have to be my partner next time I play. We'd be unstoppable." Her enthusiasm seemed to amuse him.

"Perhaps. Though I do not believe I am the kind of man who would frequent such…keggers." The way he said keggers - and the fact he actually said it at all - made her snort. Whatever, she wasn't a delicate feminine flower - she could snort if she wanted to. Anyway, he didn't call her out on it.

She thought about how decent he was being right now. She wasn't one of the super, awesometastic Avengers. She was Darcy Lewis, a girl who was involved only because she knew too much. She wasn't important in the grand scheme of things. Hell, she wasn't important in the not-so-grand scheme of things. But Loki? Really fucking important. Loki was the Villain with a capital V. He was the bad guy - ok. He did bad things - ok. He changed his mind - ok. He saved them all – ok. She wasn't sure where he stood on the good-to-evil scale right now, but she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. From what she gathered, friends had never been in abundance in the God of Mischief's life. She could relate to that. And hell, she already drank something he made appear out of thin air. She could at least extend the olive branch a little further and hope for the best. And if it went wrong, there was an entire house full of scary people with cool weapons who would be there to protect her. For some reason, she didn't think that would be necessary.

"You know, Loki – I can call you Loki right? I mean God of Mischief is kinda pretentious – but whatever, you know what? You're alright. Seriously. I'm relatively certain that I think you're pretty cool. Just try not to kill anyone else and I think we could be friends. Or something."

She wanted to bang her head against the wall after that awesome display of eloquence.

There was a long pause and his voice sounded strange when he replied, "To clarify, you want to be my friend?"

"I guess. Like you so tactfully pointed out before, I'm not exactly Miss Popularity in S.H.I.E.L.D. Besides, you've got the hook-up with this fuckawesome ale."

Loki turned to look out at the night and answered with far more gravity than she'd been anticipating, "I would not make a very good friend. But thank you, Miss Lewis."

"Darcy, please."

His voice was still a touch too serious, "Darcy."

She wasn't really daunted by his mood swings and was about to ask him about the whole Frost Giant thing since they were now on a first-name basis, but Nick Fury's voice sounded out behind her.

"Darcy? Could you come here? Jane's looking for you."

Darcy didn't have to be the God of Lies to know that was one.

"I'll be right there, Nick."

Fury didn't move, just kept staring at her with that look on his face that made her want to slap him. Or poke him in his one good eye. She was not the damsel in distress. She didn't need saving. Not from Loki. Well, at least not right now. But whatever, she didn't want to make a scene. She looked at Loki, who was still pensively gazing out at the night.

Crapballs.

And she had spent all that time loosening him up. Fine, she didn't mind making a little scene.

She turned back to Fury, "I just need to get Loki's digits. We were just talking about dinner and a movie."

Well, they did mention Thai food and DiCaprio, so that technically wasn't a lie. Maybe it was too much though? Fury's eye bulged out and the vein in his forehead started pulsing. She caught Loki looking at her and decided - nope, it was just the right amount of mischief. It wasn't her fault Fury didn't have a sense of humor.

And the vein thing was gross.

"You alright there, Nick? I think you may have had too much to drink, you're looking a little peaky."

She was smiling a bit too widely, but this shit was funny.

"Darcy, I-" Fury broke off. Then he turned and walked away without a word.

"Well played," Loki's soft voice said from beside her.

"Why, thank you. If he pressed, I was going to start waxing poetic on that silver tongue of yours – but you know, in a kinky way. He gets flustered easily. I'm pretty sure it's because he thinks I'm hot and feels like a creeper about it since he's old enough to be my grandpa."

She looked at Loki appraisingly, "And he, you know, actually looks like he's old enough to be my grandpa."

"Are you telling me that you think me old?" Luckily, he seemed more amused than insulted.

"Yeah, I guess so. But you're still hot, so it's all good." Well, he was, so it was. Although Asgardian ale might be a bit more potent than she thought. "You're also a gentleman. You're the only guy here who I haven't caught staring at my boobs tonight. You should've seen how red Steve got. Hilarious."

His voice was curious, "Do you really think you could catch me in the act if I did not want you to?"

Good point.

"I suppose not. You're a pretty sneaky bastard. Natasha has it worse though – with her freaking Britney Spears catsuit and her ridiculous body. I wouldn't be surprised if she had a bionic ass." She realized that came off a little bit like jealousy, but that woman gave her serious self-esteem issues.

"No need to be catty. Your body is proportioned in an above-average manner. I believe if you were to buy yourself a similar garment, there would be much speculation about the natural composition of your body as well." His voice was deceptively neutral.

In her buzzed (ok, more than buzzed) state, it took her a moment to puzzle out his words.

"Is that your way of saying I have a nice ass and would look good in spandex?"

Innocently, "Perhaps. I suppose you can take it that way if you wish."

Fuck, was she blushing? How embarrassing.

"Well executed ego stroking. Thanks."

"You are welcome. Though I must reiterate that you are an unusual woman."

"Eh. You know what they say – normal is a dryer setting."

He opened his mouth again, and she was waiting with far too much anticipation when Nick-Fucking-Fury's voice rang out again.

"Darcy."

Just her name, in that tone. She was enjoying herself dammit! This dude was freaking entertaining for an ex-agent of chaos and doom.

She replied with just enough innuendo to make Nick uncomfortable, "Yes, Daddy?"

She heard Loki snicker beside her.

Fury wasn't pleased, "Come inside now. People are looking for you."

She looked up at Loki briefly before turning back to Fury, "Well, apparently people already found me."

She could see from the look on Fury's face that this wasn't going to go over well. And Loki still wasn't saying anything – she understood why. Fine.

"Alright, Pops. I'm coming." She looked back up at Loki and added in a comically sultry voice, "I'm coming very soon."

Loki raised his eyebrow and smirked, obviously enjoying her little game. At least someone could roll with the innuendo.

"Darcy," Fury was using his 'don't-make-me-choke-a-bitch' voice. Damn. Seriously, he needed some fucking Xanax.

She sighed, "I'll talk to you later, Loki. Beer pong. I'm considering that a promise."

She turned her back on the God of Mischief and started walking into the house.

"Darcy?"

At the sound of her name on Loki's lips, she turned back to look at him despite the clenching of Fury's jaw.

"Tell my brother I will speak with him tomorrow."

She nodded and gaped a bit as he disappeared. Like poof. That was cool. She went to go back inside and realized something else had disappeared along with him. From the increased ventilation under her dress, she could tell that she was no longer wearing any panties.

Fucking God of Mischief.